Recap: Oct. 26 2009 with Maureen McCann!
Posted in Events on 10/28/2009 08:56 am by Veronica GiggeyI’d like to start our recap by thanking all of the people that attended our second Girl Geek Dinner in Ottawa. Not only did you guys make it out on a Monday night, but some of you already even blogged about it! As organizers we are grateful for your enthusiasm and you continue to motivate us to do better with each event.
Our venue of choice this time was The Empire Grill, the room was setup in a single, and very long table. Turns out this was the perfect setup for the exercise our speaker, Maureen McCann, had in mind. This exercise is a personal favourite of mind, the driving force behind it is that sometimes we get so caught up in our disappointments that we forget how many great things we have to offer. It’s a game of first impressions. You are given a colored index card and asked to write your name and a word that you feel describes you. We were then asked to pass our card to our left, take a look at the person to our right and write on their card the car that would best describe them. This is the first impression part. We passed the cards to the left again and are asked to write a beverage that best describes the person a couple chairs to the right. And so we went for a couple more descriptions. You then receive your card back and get to read how other people perceive you (at least for that night). Most of us found our descriptions were pretty bang on! I guess this is good news, since HR people and recruiters are forced to make decisions based on first impressions.
But enough games. Did you know that a US survey showed 50-60% of respondents were unhappy with their current jobs? How about that just in the same way you perform maintenance on your car, you should be performing maintenance on your career?
Maureen self describes herself as the Simon Cowell of career coaches and says the biggest challenge people face in their careers is themselves. Best way to save ourselves from ourselves? 3 steps:
- Know who you are and what you have to offer.
- Understand the local labor market.
- Have the ability to sell yourself. Take a look at yourself from the employer’s perspective and articulate the value you bring to the table.
Some more practical advice:
- Don’t use Time New Roman font for cover letters and resumes.
- Don’t use Word or Office templates…stand out.
- Are you a designer? Why don’t you flaunt your stuff on your resume?
- If you have 60% of the job requirements, go for it! Don’t screen yourself out of the competition.
- If you are looking for a senior level position and have 7 LinkedIn connection, step it up.
- What goes online, stays online. You’re on 24 hours, don’t leave half filled profiles.
- Go beyond Googling yourself, setup a Google alert for your name.
- Check out your Google Quotient (there’s a small cost for the tool, you’ll have to enter your email)
Whether you are searching for a job or looking to move up within your current company. Don’t forget to celebrate your successes along the way. An interview, a follow-up are all things to be proud of. This builds up your confidence and you can tie that back to those first impressions.
Great night. Great speaker. Great company, so we are happy to call this event another huge success. Thanks for attending, we hope we see you again before the holidays.
Ottawa Girl Geek Dinners are an offshoot of the London Girl Geek Dinners, started by Sarah Blow. The goal of these get-togethers is to make technology accessible and interesting to all age groups and all people, particularly women.
